Highly Recommended Video:Amazing Men's Finish at 2010 Chicago Marathon 2010 Chicago Marathon on FlotrackThe Frazier-Ali evocations were apt as a frenzied and hoarse Toni Reavis giddily lost his voice and his mind. Before his eyes, an epic battle waged on between two of the finest marathoners today and of all time.
Entering the last mile, 2010 London Marathon winner Tsegay Kebede had almost comprehensively demolished a phenomenal field, that included marathon titans like 2:05 man Vincent Kipruto and 2010 Boston winner Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, with a series of surges from 5,000 meters out that struck his competitors just as the day's uncomfortably hot weather rolled in quite uninvited. The damage was fatal to all but one man- an ailing Samuel Wanjiru.
After an astonishing 2007-2009 run of excellence, Wanjiru's spotless record was littered in 2010 with DNF's and question marks. Just three weeks ago, he suffered from a stomach flu that caused him to seriously consider the New York Marathon as a substitute race. Before that, he dealt specifically with knee and back injuries that culminated most notably in a high-profile dropout in the 2010 London Marathon. In that race, 2010 Fukuoka Marathonon winner and 2009 London runner-up (to Wanjiru) Tsegaye Kebede emerged as the new man on top of the marathon discipline. On Sunday, an already distressed Wanjiru dealt head-on again with a ruthless and on-form Kebede at the peak of his powers.
The pecuniary stakes of the battle between Kebede and Wanjiru were astronomically high. As I wrote about before, young Kenyans and Africans like these two dueling 23 year olds are rushing to the roads precisely for the generous payouts of big-city events. Not only was the Chicago purse a hefty $75,000, but the prior performances of Wanjiru and Kebede guaranteed the victor the grand prize for the World Marathon Majors series- a cool half million bucks. The extraordinary financial ramifications of the duel made every detail critical.
Both competitors knew that each manuever, each step, and each shadow cast was paramount. Unlike in the big track meets in Europe, there was no jumbotron informing Kebede of Wanjiru's whereabouts. "Contact" was the all-important factor on which the entire race hinged. The idea of contact is as much a mental framework as a physical one. On an indoor track, for me contact feels like a 10 meters separation while on an outdoor track it feels more like 20 meters. The distance on the roads is probably something like 5 seconds apart give or take a few seconds for the individual. The entire last 5 kilometer was a battle by Wanjiru to attain contact against a leader, Kebede, who was determined to deny him it at every turn.
Everything was on the line in this battle of wills and endurance. If Wanjiru could retain contact and remain mentally committed, his excellent finishing ability and pedigree gave him the upper hand over even Kebede. The bold Ethiopian's finish would undoubtedly be hindered by his time at the front as well as his repeated surges. To combat that grim reality, Kebede fought to prevent Wanjiru from contact with all of the tools in his arsenal. After catching a glimpse of not Wanjiru, but rather Wanjiru's shadow creeping up on his side, Kebede without hesitation would ratchet the pace up again and pull out of range. To counter Kebede's alert instincts, Wanjiru at one point began to run well wide of Kebede, so as to pick up valuable distance on him while he was rendered unaware.
The cat and mouse game continued in the last mile (featured in the video) with Wanjiru at times running directly behind Kebede, denying him any peripheral vision of his condition or whereabouts. and at other times running wide to avoid his detection as before. Kebede reluctantly ceded some time to Wanjiru at the front in the last mile before the pivotal last kilometer or so. At that point, he regained control and attempted one last time to drop his Kenyan opponent at the bitter end.
Ultimately, Wanjiru remained close enough to Kebede in that final kilometer and uncorked a knockout blow on one of the course's rare inclines (snobbish aside: Boston has hills, Chicago has inclines). Kebede was broken by Wanjiru's acceleration and could not respond or accelerate the pace like he had so many times before. An ecstatic and exhausted Wanjiru broke the tape in a creditable clocking of 2:06:24 with Kebede some 19 seconds behind. All of Kebede's formidable assaults amazingly had been not enough to break a battered, but never beaten Wanjiru.
The theatre was some of the best in the history of the marathon. This was two worthy champions unwaveringly attacking each other with probably the richest payout in the event's history on the line. Samuel Wanjiru may have emerged as a winner on the day, but all fans of the sport could make the claim, too.
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